Dunamis Church Pastor Brutalised Us, Tied Our Clothes Like Robbers – #BuhariMustGo Protesters

Forum 2 years ago

Dunamis Church Pastor Brutalised Us, Tied Our Clothes Like Robbers – #BuhariMustGo Protesters

Two of the five #BuhariMustGo campaigners have narrated the inhumane treatment they got from the pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Abuja.

Recall that five of the campaigners were arrested during the church’s Sunday service on July 4.

They have now given further accounts of torture and humiliation to which they were subjected in the custody of the Department of State Services.

Manasseh Paul and Chinonso Ahmadu said they were made to sleep in a cell with a pit toilet and treated more like animals than humans that they were.

SaharaReporters had in a series of reports stated how the church's security guards arrested the youths and handed them over to the DSS.

It had been reported further that the activists were subjected to degrading treatments by the service and not allowed access to their lawyers and families

In a video shared by Punch, Chinonso Ahmadu started, “I and my friends went to Dunamis church for thanksgiving and inscribed on our shirt was our prayer request and we later went for the altar call and they entertained us as first-timers.

“We were going home when the church security operatives attacked us and brutalised us. They beat my blind friend who went to church with us; they dragged him on the floor.

“After that, they took us to their security post where we were tortured, our phones were taken away from us, they forced us to give them our passwords and they checked our phones. A pastor in the church came and started hitting us. I tried to block his punches; he threatened to double the torture.

“There was a woman there with tribal marks, she was the one begging the pastor on our behalf. They asked us several questions which we answered. We asked them what our offence was, none of them answered.

”They called the DSS and tied our clothes together as if we stole from the church. We were confused because of the way we were arrested, we don't even understand it. By evening, the DSS took us to the New Echo cell.

“I never regretted taking any action, I am still going to take more action. As I speak to you, everyone in the DSS facility is now relating to the BuhariMustGo campaign. I went for a medical check-up after I was released. I had a broken tooth and a broken jaw. I had a lot of injuries. I had bruises on my back as a result of the torture I received while in custody.”

Also, Manasseh Paul said, “I was arrested in Dunamis church; we were first dehumanised by the church security officials before they handed us over to the DSS. On getting to the DSS facility, that was when I discovered that a lot of Nigerians had been jailed, suffering for what they know nothing about.

“We were stripped naked; they remove our trousers, left with boxers and a shirt. They took us to a basement; we were made to lie on the floor, the place was stuffy and smelling. From there, they transferred us to the New Echo cell. There were a lot of mosquitoes there. We slept on the floor all through.

“There was a pit toilet in the cell where we were kept in. We slept there on the other side of the cell. The smell that comes out of there is very irritating. The next day, we were taken to their administrative block where we were tortured.

“We were being forced to say who gave us the shirt but I told them that I printed the shirt by myself. We refused to sign any document and refused to write a statement until we saw our lawyer. For seven days, we didn't eat, we were not taken care of; there was no blanket to cover ourselves with.

“After these seven days, we were still tortured, we were asked who sent us and we told them we did this out of our conviction as Nigerians. After the ill-treatment, we were taken away from that cell to another cell just because we were communicating with our senior comrade, Nnamdi Kanu.

”On the 19th day, they took us to a magistrate court, the court was deserted. That day, the judge was angry with the prosecuting counsel and told them to grant us access to our lawyer.”